BY SAUNDRA AMRHEIN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
UNION TOWNSHIP -- The would-be basketball players run drills and push to beat their peers in the point system.
The highest scorers will play; the rest won't make the team. It's old-fashioned competition, seen on sports fields across the country. Except for one thing: These players are just 8 years old.
It's not that the programs are searching only for the best talent, said Dan Zieverink, a West Chester resident and long-time volunteer coach for Lakota Tomahawk football and basketball. The problem is finding the facilities to hold them all.
West Chester has grown so fast that the township has not been able to keep up with park and recreation space. While empty during the week, Union Township's two parks -- Keehner and McGinnis -- often are packed on the weekends, which forces residents to book shelters months in advance, officials say.
And youth sports teams must compete for fields or courts, which means their young members must qualify at an age when everyone should be playing.
"There are literally hundreds of kids that don't get a chance to participate in basketball programs," Mr. Zieverink said. "Kids are not able to play who want to play. There's just not enough room."
What's so frustrating for township trustees is that land exists for parks. What doesn't is the money to develop them.
In the crush of recent growth, police, fire and roads have taken precedence over parks.
So while 300 acres of land are expected to become available to the township from the Voice of America site, there may be little that can be done with it.
"The new Voice of America site is really a godsend to be able to expand our ball fields," said Trustee Catherine Stoker. Also, plans are on the board for a $35 million recreation building at the future town center on Cincinnati-Dayton Road, she added.
"I just don't know if we're going to have the money to build it."
That's because much of the township's available money goes to road improvements.Mrs. Stoker said.
Adding to the problem, the township may have to foot an $8 million bill to extend the remainder of Muhlhauser Road, a project trustees expected to be paid for by the Transportation Improvement District. The district is building the Butler County Regional Highway, but might not have the expected money to pay for promised local improvements, said Union Township Administrator Dave Gully, who also serves as the district's secretary treasurer.
"We need recreation, but we have to provide the infrastructure that protects health and safety first," Mrs. Stoker said.
Mary Raffel, director of Union Township parks, agrees other public services come first.
But parks give something invaluable, an improved quality of life, she said.
"Parks are not a priority when compared to police and fire, as it should be," she said. "But parks allow people to have a refuge of silence and relaxation, a place to exercise and hang out."
When Ms. Raffel started with the parks eight years ago, about 23,000 children a year were served by park programs.
That number has increased to 30,000 children today, she said. "It's so tight, we have to exclude adult baseball teams (to make room) for children. We're trying to serve everybody."
But parents like Mr. Zieverink aren't asking for the moon. He said he would be happy if the township put up pole barns where kids could play basketball instead of waiting to spend millions of dollars on outfitted recreation centers and parks.
Invalid rule "They want to build something that's the best, and we're not anywhere yet," he said. "We're trying to go from zero to a hundred."
